On the heels of a record cold February and less insulation from snow, Traverse City water pipes are freezing at a record pace and crews simply can’t keep up.

The number of “freeze ups” is on pace to more than double last year’s final tally – in excess of 300. To paraphrase Justin Roy, the city’s water/wastewater maintenance superintendent, if you haven’t had a frozen pipe issue, consider yourself extremely lucky.

“The water coming into the plant is 32 degrees,” says Roy, and once that meets the underground frost (which is lower this year than previous years) that’s where the trouble begins.

As of Monday, the department had received 250 calls about frozen pipes spread across town. “It’s very hit or miss,” he says.

Traverse City resident Nate Farran lives on E. Eighth Street. He awoke to no water this past Saturday morning. As of yesterday, he has water again but has been instructed by the city to keep a pencil-sized stream running until May 1.

Across town in Central Neighborhood, Brad Anderson called in a frozen pipe report on Monday evening and was told they had 140 such reports and it would be next week until they can get to him.

Dance Arts Academy on S. Garfield was forced to close the studio Tuesday due to frozen pipes, but was able to reopen yesterday thanks to the city providing water while it worked to fix the issue.

A City-issued public service announcement released late yesterday encourages property owners who have had freezing issues in the past, or who experience sudden loss of water pressure, to start running a trickle of water from a faucet.

However, the same announcement also cautions that the increased flow due to water left running “may overwhelm” the capacity of the sewage treatment plant and cause partially treated sewage to be discharged. It has notified the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality of the situation and “will follow established procedures if an overflow event occurs.”

The city’s plan of attack right now is sending a shock of low-voltage, high current electricity through affected pipelines to unfreeze them, which Roy describes as the most efficient process. The department has a crew of eight along with a couple of guys from Wheelock & Sons Welding, the company the city contracts with for the work. They are putting in 10-hour days, seven days a week. They have tried to find more contractors, but they are also spread thin.

“We’re attempting to respond or going to respond to all of them,” says Roy of the ever-expanding call log. “We’re about 150 behind. It’s about seven to 10 days out for service.”

Two weeks ago, Roy was feeling pretty confident about keeping the frozen pipe issue under control – after targeting about 600 residents in advance of the sub-zero stretch of weather last month and requesting they keep a stream of water running 24/7.

At that time, some 75 percent of the frozen pipe issues fell under the homeowner’s responsibility, he says – meaning the freeze problem was located in water service lines running from the City-owned water main to inside a home or business.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter whose [responsibility] it is,” says Roy. “It’s all in the name of just getting water back.”

The Grand Traverse Bay YMCA is also pitching in to help – putting out a notice to the community last week welcoming anyone without water due to frozen or burst pipes to use the Y showers for free.

While a warming trend is predicted starting next week, Roy has one, simple piece of advice for those who have been running water: Don’t turn it off.

“We need a good two to four weeks of above freezing temps during the day and night,” he says.

And for city residents who do have water, Roy asks they be vigilant about any changes. An indicator of an impending problem, he says, is water that has turned rusty or yellowish in color – that means slush has formed and is scouring rust and other sediment particles off the pipe’s interior – and total freezing is not far behind.

In those cases, he says to keep a thin stream of water running from a faucet and then notify the department (922.4923) so a “run notice” can be put on their bill.

The city is continuing to monitor the situation and will provide another update today (Thursday) at 3pm.